The deaths of black men at the hands of white police officers have prompted a group of Colorado legislators to consider introducing in the upcoming session police-reform bills that deal with racial profiling and expanded measures to hold cops accountable.

Rep. Angela Williams of Denver informed several other Democratic lawmakers in late November that she was working on a bill to expand the state’s racial-profiling law, according to an e-mail chain obtained by The Denver Post on Friday.

She referenced the situation in Ferguson, Mo., where 18-year-old Michael Brown was shot and killed by an officer Aug. 9.

“While national attention is focused on Ferguson now, we know the same behaviors are taking place in our own state,” she said in the e-mail exchange.

Lawmakers also are discussing mandatory use of body cameras on officers and mandatory taped interviews, as well as a further examination of chokeholds, according to the e-mails.

Just how the proposals will fare in the next legislative session, which opens Jan. 7, is unclear. Democrats control the House, but Republicans will be in charge of the Senate for the first time since 2004.

One of the new Republican senators will be John Cooke, whose term as Weld County sheriff will end in a few weeks. He called some of the Democratic proposals “knee-jerk reactions” and “one-size-fits-all solutions.”

“We don’t allow chokeholds anymore — most departments don’t,” Cooke said. “But having a law on the books doesn’t stop them from happening at times.”

Williams wrote her initial e-mail days after a grand jury in Ferguson decided not to charge the officer in Brown’s death but before a grand jury this week cleared a white New York City officer in the death of Eric Garner. The deaths have led to discussions on race all the way from the White House to local high schools.

A prominent Colorado civil rights activist, the Rev. Dawn Riley Duval, is working independently on a proposal to remove prosecutors from cases involving law enforcement agencies they work with.

“It seems like an obvious issue that there would be conflicts (of interest) between prosecutors and officers, because on every other case they’re connected,” said Duval, a social-justice consultant to churches and an organizer in such groups as Let My People Vote and Together Colorado.

Duval has the support of former lawmaker Peter Groff, the first black Senate president in Colorado.

“The relationship between district attorneys and law enforcement represents a unique relationship,” said Groff, a lawyer and public-policy consultant.”Whether it’s true or not, there is a public perception based on that special relationship that there’s a conflict.”

Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler thinks a mandatory recusal is shortsighted and unnecessary.

The state constitution requires district attorneys to prosecute crimes in their district, and the law allows the public to ask a judge to determine whether there’s a need for a special prosecutor, Brauchler said. In Colorado, every officer-involved shooting is turned over to a team of investigators from other departments. District attorneys post the reports online.

“I think when you start taking away the responsibility and authority for local prosecutors, you also take away the accountability,” he said.

Voters elect prosecutors. And if they disapprove of the work, they can vote the district attorney out of office, he said.

“If they don’t agree with a special prosecutor’s decision, they have no recourse,” Brauchler said.

On his Twitter account Wednesday, Groff referenced Duval’s efforts. Based on the tweet, The Post contacted several lawmakers to ask whether they planned to introduce legislation dealing with DA-investigated police cases.

That spurred further comment on the e-mail chain.

“We should probably talk about such legislation as I believe DAs offices have no business overseeing the potential prosecution of law enforcement,” wrote Rep. Joe Salazar, D-Thornton. “There is a direct conflict of interest as DAs heavily rely on law enforcement and vice versa.”

That prompted a reply from Rep. Daniel Kagan, D-Cherry Hills Village, who is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

“What we sorely lack — and for obvious reasons — is public confidence that allegations of excessive force by police or prison guards will be impartially evaluated and, in appropriate cases, prosecuted. A special prosecutor or independent counsel seems to me, at first blush, like an excellent way to rebuild trust and confidence in such matters,” he wrote. “Certainly worth considering.”

Kagan on Friday said the idea is simply that — an idea — and nothing specific has been proposed.

Others on the e-mail discussion included a defense attorney, the public policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado and four Democratic lawmakers: Reps. Pete Lee of Colorado Springs and Jovan Melton of Aurora; and Sens. Lucia Guzman of Denver and Jessie Ulibarri of Westminster.

Lee has long pushed for “restorative justice,” defined as a system that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community at large.

Denver Police Cmdr. Matt Murray pointed out that the city has two levels of oversight, the public safety manager and an independent monitor.

But Duval said the minority community has questioned several recent officer-caused deaths in recent years. She cited the 2010 death of homeless street preacher Marvin Booker, who died after officers put him in a “sleeper hold” and stunned him with a Taser in the Denver County jail.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry. He likes stories more than reports. Tell him if you know one.

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